[Noon Salon] 2030 Town Hall — Barriers to Asset Formation for Young People, Housing Insecurity, and Powerlessness
Today's Noon Salon segment featured Chairman Han Ga-seop and Editor-in-Chief Kim Seung-hyun in a conversation on asset formation and political participation among people in their 20s and 30s. Chairman Han identified 'powerlessness' as the biggest problem felt by young people, pointing out that even before homeownership, the stress of repeated jeonse/wolse lease renewals and moves every two years makes it difficult to secure a stable living environment. He also noted that, unlike older generations, today's youth face large disparities from birth and are more prone to feelings of relative deprivation due to social media.
Against this backdrop, it was noted that a desire for 'one-shot windfalls' has emerged among young people, and with real estate purchases effectively out of reach, many turn to stock investment as their only perceived escape route. It was mentioned that cases of people taking out loans to invest excessively, only to get stuck and struggle even with living expenses, are not uncommon. Editor-in-Chief Kim pointed to a more fundamental problem — that young people have 'never been taught how to invest' — criticizing the near-total absence of practical economic education on asset formation and financial life within public education.
The host introduced a policy concept similar to a 'social inheritance system,' under which the government would help close the gap between young people who can inherit assets from their parents and those who cannot, using part of inheritance tax revenue to provide a social starting fund to young people with no assets to inherit — a more fundamental approach than the current fragmented, employment-subsidy-style youth policies. Editor-in-Chief Kim provided specifics, noting that the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Dream Start Savings Account (a child development support account) program, introduced in 2006-2007, remains in operation today, with about 225,000 enrollees as of December 2025, and that a dedicated asset-formation management team was newly established this year under the Lee Jae-myung administration.
The two also noted that youth politics and youth policy are often conflated, preventing the effectiveness of policies from being properly publicized or felt, and that those in their 40s and 50s, burdened by dual support obligations, can easily feel resentment toward youth discourse. Chairman Han offered concrete examples of policy design disconnected from reality, such as youth housing applications only accounting for single-person households and thus excluding shared living with roommates, emphasizing that the detailed design of housing policy matters just as much as investment in shaping how young people actually experience these programs.